Image scaling arrangement

ABSTRACT

Methods and system for transferring images between devices is disclosed. For example, differently scaled images by a host device may automatically and/or selectively be transferred to a media player for display. In turn, appropriately scaled images may be transferred automatically and/or selectively to another display device for example a TV, camera or printer. The selectivity may occur either at the host level or at the player level.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to: (i) U.S. application Ser. No. ______[Att. Dkt. No. APL1P354/P3557], filed concurrently herewith, andentitled “MULTIPLE MEDIA TYPE SYNCHRONIZATION BETWEEN HOST COMPUTER ANDMEDIA DEVICE,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference; (ii)U.S. application Ser. No. ______ [Att. Dkt. No. APL1P320P/P3363], filedconcurrently herewith, and entitled “WIRELESS SYNCHRONIZATION BETWEENMEDIA PLAYER AND HOST DEVICE,” which is hereby incorporated herein byreference; (iii) U.S. application Ser. No. 10/277,418, filed Oct. 21,2002, and entitled “INTELLIGENT INTERACTION BETWEEN MEDIA PLAYER ANDHOST COMPUTER,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference; and(iv) U.S. application Ser. No. 10/118,069, filed Apr. 5, 2002, andentitled “INTELLIGENT SYNCHRONIZATION OF MEDIA PLAYER WITH HOSTCOMPUTER,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to portable media devices and moreparticularly to data transfer with portable media devices.

2. Description of the Related Art

The hand-held consumer electronics market is exploding, and anincreasing number of these products including for example PDAs, musicplayers, cellular phones, cameras, and video games have increased theirfunctionality to distance themselves from their competitors. By way ofexample, cellular phones have added PDA and camera functionality, PDAshave added cellular phone and music player functionality, music playershave added PDA and video game functionality, etc. In the future, it isforeseeable that the functionality of all these devices will continue tomerge into a single device. As these products evolve, it is believedthat many design challenges will be encountered.

Many hand-held computing devices work hand in hand with a personalcomputer. The personal computer typically serves as a base to theportable hand-held computer device. For example, because they arehand-held, they are typically a portable extension of the personalcomputer. Like personal computers, these highly portable devicestypically include a processor that operates to execute computer code andproduce and use data in conjunction with an operating system. Unlikepersonal computers, however, these devices typically use less complexoperating systems as well as smaller and less expensive processors thatare slower than the processors used in personal computers. While thismay be appropriate when the devices operate normally, difficulties arisewhen these hand-held computing devices are called upon to performprocess intensive tasks. The difficulties include slow responsivenessand high power consumption. As a result, the user may be left with anegative user experience, i.e., users may not like a product that isslow and whose battery life is short.

Personal computers typically include software that helps manage thehandheld computing devices. The personal computer may include forexample a photo management program that helps transfer photos from thecamera to the personal computer. The photo management program may alsoallow a user to sort, store and catalog their images as well as toprovide touch- up capabilities such as red eye reduction, black andwhite conversion, image cropping and rotation. In some cases, thecameras modify the original image by embedding or storing thumbnailimages inside the original image. The photo management program uses theembedded thumbnail images when importing the original image. Forexample, as each photo is being imported, the photo management programmay show the thumbnail image thereby relaying to the user that the imageis being imported.

In addition to photo management programs, the personal computer may alsoinclude music management programs that help transfer music from thepersonal computer to a music player such as an MP3 music player. Likethe photo management program their music, the music management programmay also allow a user to sort, modify, store and catalog their music.More particularly, the music program may give the user the ability toorganize their music into playlists, edit file information, recordmusic, download files to a music player, purchase music over theInternet (World Wide Web), run a visualizer to display the music in avisual form, and encode or transcode music into different audio formatssuch as MP3, AIFF, WAV, AAC, and ALE. Typically, music players onlyunderstand a single music format. Therefore, the music managementprogram typically can to transcode the music stored in the personalcomputer from one music format to the desired music format of a musicplayer.

In some cases, both the photo and music programs are linked so that theimages and music stored therein can be played together. For example, thephoto management program may allow a user to produce slide shows thatshow images to music. By way of example, the photo management programmay correspond to iPhoto® and the music management program maycorrespond to iTunes®, both of which are manufactured by and availablefrom Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

Synchronization operations have been conventionally performed betweenportable devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and hostcomputers, to synchronize electronic files or other resources. Forexample, these files or other resources can pertain to text files, datafiles, calendar appointments, emails, to-do lists, electronic rolodexes,etc.

In the case of media players, such as MP3 players, files are typicallymoved between a host computer and a media player through use of a dragand drop operation, like is conventionally done with respect to copyingof a data file from a Windows desktop to a floppy disk. Hence, the userof the media player can manually initiates synchronization forindividual media items. As a consequence, synchronization tends to betedious and time consuming for users. More recently, media players havebeen able to be synchronized with a host computer when a bus connectionover a cable is made. Here, the synchronization can be automaticallyinitiated when the cable is connected between the host computer and themedia player. The iPod® offered by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino,Calif. has the capability to provide such synchronization over a cable.

Thus, there is a continuing need for improved features for connectingand transferring data between media devices and their hosts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates, in one embodiment, to a method of transferringimage data between a host device and a portable media device capable ofstoring and presenting media items, namely, images. The method includesdesignating, at the host device, at least one image for downloading tothe portable media device. The method also includes producing an imagecollection for each requested image at the host device. Each imagecollection contains new versions of the requested image. Each newversion can have a different image profile based on the capabilities ofthe portable media device. The method further includes sending at leastthe image collection including each version of the requested image tothe portable media device. In some cases, the requested image is alsosent with the various versions thereof.

The invention relates, in another embodiment, to an operational methodfor a portable media device. The method includes storing image data. Theimage data includes a plurality of image collections. Each imagecollection contains a plurality of differently formatted images based onthe same original image. The image collections are separately generatedon a device other than the portable media device. In some cases, theoriginal image is stored along with the differently formatted images.The method also includes receiving a display command. The displaycommand designates one or more images of the image data to be displayed.The method further includes retrieving at least the designated images.The method additionally includes outputting one or more of the retrievedimages.

The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a method oftransferring image data between a host device and a portable mediadevice capable of storing and playing media items. The method includesreceiving an image download request. The image download requestdesignates one or more images for downloading from the host device tothe portable media device. The method also includes creating a databaseentry for each of the images to be downloaded. The method furtherincludes copying the database entry on at least the portable mediadevice. The method additionally includes creating an image collectionfor each requested image at the host. The image collection includes theoriginal image and differently formatted images based on the originalimage. Moreover, the method includes copying the image collection to theportable media player and updating the database entry with informationabout each of the images in the image collection.

The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a portable media devicecapable of viewing images. The device includes a storage devicecontaining downloaded image data. The downloaded image data includes aplurality of image collections. Each image collection includes aplurality of different versions of the original image. In some cases,the downloaded image data also includes the original image. The devicealso includes a processor configured to supply at least a portion of theimage data to a display.

The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a computer readablemedium including at least computer program code for managing images. Thecomputer readable medium including capabilities for storing a pluralityof image collections where each image collection includes a plurality ofdifferent versions of the original image and in some instances theoriginal image as well. The computer readable medium also includingcapabilities for retrieving one or images from storage when a displaycommand is generated and presenting one or more of the retrieved images.

The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a download embodied asa carrier wave in a media communication system that facilitatescommunications between a host device and a portable media device. Thedownload includes image data including a plurality of image collections.Each image collection includes an a plurality of different versions ofan original image, and in some cases the original image as well.

The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a media managementmethod. The method includes loading one or more images to a personalcomputer and storing the one or more images on the personal computer.The method also includes connecting a hand held media device to thepersonal computer. The method further includes presenting images orimage identifiers on personal computer and generating a download commanddesignating one or more images to be downloaded from the personalcomputer to the hand held media device. The method additionally includesdetermining the image formats required by the hand held media device,creating new versions of the designated images and copying and storingat least the new versions of the designated images on the hand heldmedia device. Moreover, the method includes disconnecting the hand heldmedia device from the personal computer. Additionally, the methodincludes generating a display command on the hand held media device,retrieving one or more images from storage based on the display command,and presenting one or more of the retrieved images.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals designate like structural elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a method of transferring image data between a host device anda portable media device, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an operational method for a portable media device, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a method of transferring image data between a host device anda portable media device, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a photo database file, in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A-5F are diagrams of image set files, in accordance with severalembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is media method, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a media management system, in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a media player, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is perspective view of a handheld computing device, in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a media device operational method, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 11A-11E are diagrams of several exemplary screen shots of a mediaplayer with photo viewing capabilities, in accordance with severalembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11F is a diagram of a pictorial of a TV screen image provided by atelevision coupled to the media player, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to portable media devices with imagefunctionality and also to image transfer between portable media devicesand their hosts. Media devices with image functionality typicallyrequire several different image formats to support the various displaymodes of the media device. For example, media devices typically requirea full screen image that fills the entire display screen of the mediadevice as well as various thumbnail images, which may help a user browsethrough a group of images.

One method for creating these various images is to download the originalimage to the portable media device and then to transcode the originalimage into the required formats on the portable media device when theyneed to be displayed. This is sometimes referred to as processing dataon-the-fly. While this may work, it is generally believed that thismethodology has several drawbacks that make it less appealing to theuser. For example, because formatting images is a process intensive task(especially on portable media devices that lack the horsepower of theirlarger hosts), portable media devices tend to operate slowly and consumemore power. Hence, formatting images on portable media devices tend toresult in an unsatisfactory user experience. For one, the user has towait while the image is being formatted. For another, the battery of theportable media device tends to run out more regularly.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, the present invention provides amethod where images are preformatted on the host before or during thedownload thereto. When an image is identified for download variouspreformatted images derived from the original image (and possibly theoriginal images) are sent to the portable media device. The processingis performed on the host, which can handle these tasks more easily thanthe portable media player. The tasks may, for example, include scaling,cropping, rotation, color correction and the like. Once received by theportable media device, the preformatted images and possibly the originalimage are stored for later use. By storing these images, the mediadevice is relieved from having to perform any of the labor intensivetasks associated with image formatting. That is, the preformatted imagesrelieve the media device of much of the work required to display them.As a result, the device operates faster and without repeated needs forrecharging. In one embodiment, at least some of the preformatted imagesare thumbnail images.

During media device use, a user may request that an image be displayed.Instead of processing the original image as in the method describedabove, the device simply obtains the appropriate preformatted image fromstorage and presents it to the user on a display. The preformattedimages may include a full screen image and several different thumbnailsized images. The full screen image typically depends on the size of thedisplay contained in the portable media device, i.e., the full screenimage generally fills the entire screen. The different sized thumbnailimages, which come in various sizes, may be used in a variety of waysincluding separately or together. For example, a plurality of smallerthumbnails may be grouped together so that a user can quickly browsethrough a large number of images. The preformatted images may alsofollow formats associated with standards or other devices to which theportable media device can be linked. For example, at least one thepreformatted images may be based on television formats so that theportable media device can present images on televisions (TVs). The TVformats may, for example, include NTSC, PAL, HDTV, and the like. Theformats may also be based on formats associated with printers, camerasor similar image using devices.

In some cases, the media device when connected to a host expresses orinforms the host as to which image formats are desired when an image isdownloaded to the media device. The media device may, for example, sendvarious image profiles corresponding to the different formats to thehost device. The image profile generally contains the attributes or keysfor each image format. By way of example, the image profiles maydescribe size, orientation, pixel format, color depth, etc. for eachimage format. This particular methodology helps with compatibilityissues that typically come up when different media devices havingdifferent versions of software and hardware are used, i.e., the versionof the software/hardware is made irrelevant since the media deviceexpresses what information it wants from the host device.

Embodiments of the invention are discussed below with reference to FIGS.1-11F. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate thatthe detailed description given herein with respect to these figures isfor explanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond these limitedembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a method 100 of transferring image data between a host deviceand a portable media device, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. The method 100 may, for example, be performed bymedia management software. The method includes blocks 102, 104 and 106.In block 102, an image download request is received at the host device.The image download request designates at least one image stored on thehost device for downloading to the portable media device. In some cases,only a single image is requested and in other cases a plurality ofimages are requested. The request can be made at the host device or themedia device through a user interface. For example, the user may selecta group of images and then select a download button. Alternatively, therequest can be made by the media device without user input.

In block 104, an image collection for each requested image is producedat the host device. Each image collection contains the new versions ordifferent formats of the original image. In some cases, the imagecollection may also contain the original image. For example, the newversions may include a full screen image, which corresponds to thescreen size on the media player, various thumbnail images, each of whichare typically smaller versions of the original image, as well as variousother images including for example TV images. It should be noted thatthe file sizes of the new versions are typically much smaller than thefile size of the original image. They therefore take up less space instorage than would the corresponding original image.

Each new version has a different image profile based on the displayneeds of the portable media device. The image profiles for particularmedia devices may be stored in the host device or the image profiles maybe given to the host device by the media device. In the first case, themedia device may provide the host device with an Identifier (ID), whichcan be used by the host to determine the image profiles for therequesting media device. For example, after obtaining the ID the hostmay refer to a previously stored table or list that includes all thecapabilities of the identified media device. In the later case, themedia device may automatically upload this information as part ofsynchronization or handshaking procedure with the host device.

The image profile generally includes a list of keys or attributes whichdefine the qualities or characteristics of each image. The keys orattributes may include for example FormatID, RenderWidth, RenderHeight,DisplayWidth, DisplayHeight, PixelFormat, Sizing, BackColor, Rotation,ScanFormat, ColorAdjustment, GammaAdjustment, and the like.

FormatID refers to an identification number that defines the imageprofile. Changing any of the attributes within the image profile willchange the identification number. The media management program uses thisID to identify thumbnail locations in both the host and media devices.

RenderWidth is the width of the image in pixels at render time.RenderHeight is the height of the image in pixels at render time.RenderWidth and RenderHeight generally refers to actual physical size.

DisplayWidth is the width of the image in pixels at display time.DisplayHeight is the height of the image in pixels at display time. Itshould be noted that DisplayHeight and DisplayWidth can differ fromRenderHeight and RenderWidth in those cases like NTSC where the pixelsare not square. DisplayWidth and DisplayHeight generally refer to thetrue size.

PixelFormat describes information encoded in each pixel (e.g., colorcomponents (RGB), transparency, etc.). Several formats can be usedincluding, for example, the QuickDraw/QuickTime pixel format.

Sizing describes what happens if the original image is smaller than thedesired thumbnail. By way of example, if 0, scale the image to thedesired height/width. If 1, scale the image to the desired height/widthonly if the image is larger than RenderWidth or RenderHeight, i.e.,don't scale small images. If 2, center-crop the image to the desiredheight/width rather than scaling it.

BackColor describes what color the background should be in cases wherethe images don't fill the entire viewing area. The background color maybe in big-endian ARGB format as a hexadecimal string.

Rotation described if and how an image should be rotated. The imagerotation is typically in degrees. For example, the rotation values maybe 0, 90, 180 and 270.

ScanFormat designates what scan format the image is stored in.ImageFormat may include progressive format or interlace format.

ColorAdjustment describes whether or not a color adjustment is needed,and if needed what the color adjustment should be. By way of example, if0, no color adjustment is applied. If 1, NTSC color adjustment isapplied. If 2, PAL color adjustment is applied.

GammaAdjustment describes whether a gamma correction needs to be appliedto the image (e.g., brightness). If not supplied, no correction is done.

In block 106, the image collection for each requested image is sent tothe portable media device as part of the downloading process. Oncereceived by the portable media device, the image collection is stored inthe portable media device for later use. The image collection may bestored in the memory of the portable media device. In order toefficiently store the images in memory, each of the different image setsmay be stored in their own file. That is, images having the same imageprofile are grouped in the same file. For example, the original imagesmay be stored in a first file, the full screen images may be stored in asecond file, a first set of thumbnail images may be stored in a thirdfile, a second set of thumbnail images may be stored in a fourth file,the TV images may be stored in a fifth file and so on.

It should be noted that in some cases, the original image may not besent to or stored on the hand held media device. This may be done tosave valuable storage space on the hand held media devices thattypically have limited storage capacity. As should be appreciated, thefile size of the original image is typically much larger than thethumbnail images and therefore they can take up more space in memory.The decision of whether to include the original image with the rest ofthe images may be made by the user. For example, the user may bepresented with a choice as whether they desire or do not desire todownload or store the original image. This decision may be based on howthe user uses the media device. For some, the media device may be usedto transfer images from one host to another. In cases such as these, theuser typically wants to include the original image. The decision may beset for all downloads or it may be made at each down load request.Similarly, the same decision can be made for all the different formatsif so desired (as some of these formats may not be needed).

Once downloaded and during operation of the media device, a displayrequest may be made on the media device. Thereafter, one or more imagesare retrieved from memory based on the display request. The displayrequest indicates the images to be shown on the media player and/orimages that are to be sent to another device connected to the mediadevice. Once retrieved, the images can be displayed. The manner in whichthe images are displayed are typically determined by the mode of themedia device. The modes can include a browse mode, a slide show mode, afull screen mode, etc. In browse mode, a plurality of tiny thumbnailimages are displayed in rows and columns. In a slide show mode, a mediumthumbnail image may be displayed in the center and smaller thumbnailimages may be displayed on either side of the medium thumbnail image.The small image to the left of the medium image may represent apreviously shown image, the medium image may represent the current imagebeing shown, and the small image to the left of the medium image mayrepresent the next image in the slide show sequence. If a TV isconnected to the media device, the media device may output the TVversion of the current image being shown to the TV. In a full screenmode, the full screen image is displayed.

FIG. 2 is an operational method for a portable media device 200, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The methodincludes blocks 202, 204, 206 and 208. In block 202, image data isstored. The image data includes at least a plurality of imagecollections. The image collections contain a plurality of differentlyformatted images based on an original image and may also include theoriginal image. The image collections are not formed on the portablemedia device. They are separately generated on a device other than theportable media device. The image collections may for example begenerated on a host device that downloads them to the portable mediadevice for storage. By way of example, the image collections may beprovided by the method described in FIG. 1. Alternatively oradditionally, the image collections may be downloaded from anotherportable media device that has already downloaded them from a host.

In block 204, a display command is received. The display commanddesignates one or more images of the image data to be displayed. Thedisplay command may be generated via a user making a selection on theuser interface of the media player.

In block 206, at least the designated images are retrieved. In somecases, only the designated images are retrieved. In other case, morethan the designated images are retrieved. For example, although thedisplay command may only designate a single image, other imagesassociated or linked to that image may be additionally retrieved.

In block 208, the one or more retrieved images are outputted. Theretrieved images may be outputted to a display. The display may belocated on the portable media device or it may be located external tothe portable media device. In either case, upon receiving the retrievedimages, the retrieved images are displayed. IN some cases, all of theimages are displayed, and in other case only a portion of the images aredisplayed. The later case may be implemented when the size and number ofimages is greater than the screen size.

FIG. 3 is a method 300 of transferring image data between a host deviceand a portable media device, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. The method may for example be performed by a mediamanagement program operating on the host device. The method begins atblock 302 where a down load request is received. The download requestdesignates one or more images to be downloaded from the host device tothe portable media device. The download request is typically implementedvia a user selection, i.e., a user selects one or more images andinitiates a downloading procedure.

Following block 302, the method proceeds to block 304 where a databaseentry is created for each image to be downloaded. The database entryprovides information about the images to be downloaded. The informationmay for example be metadata. Following block 304, the method proceeds toblock 306 where the database entry is written or copied on the mediadevice. The database entry is typically copied to an image database onthe media device. If an image database does not exist, one willtypically be created. If one does exist, the database entry will becopied thereto.

Also following block 304, the method proceeds to block 308 where animage collection is created on the host. This may include transcodingnew versions of the selected image based on a plurality of imageprofiles, and grouping the new versions of the original image and insome cases the original image into an image collection. The imageprofiles define the features of the new images. By way of example, theimage profiles may include keys for making thumbnails and other imagessuch as those which can be used on TV, printers, and other media devices(e.g., camera). The image profiles may be supplied to the host device bythe media device, and thereafter stored locally on the host device. Thismay be part of the synchronization procedure that occurs between thehost device and media device when they are connected together.

Following block 308, the method proceeds to block 310 where each imagein the image collection is written or copied to the media device. Thatis, each new version of the original image and in some cases theoriginal image are copied to the media device. In one embodiment, eachparticular type of image is stored in a separate file on the mediadevice. For example, all of the originals are stored in an originalimage file, all of a first thumbnails are stored in a first thumbnailimage file, and so on.

Following block 310, the method proceeds to block 312 where the databaseentry is updated. That is, the database entry is filled with theappropriate image data. The step of updating typically includes groupingtogether all the images of a particular image collection (original,thumbnails, TV), and providing pointers to the location where the actualimage is stored (e.g., image files).

It should be noted that in most cases the host device stores a copy ofthe database entry and image collections in parallel with the mediadevice.

It should be noted that the all or some of the steps mentioned above canoccur separately as distinct events or they can occur simultaneously. Inthe later case, at least some of the steps can be interleaved. Ininterleaving, while some images are being copied, other images are beingcreated. Interleaving is generally preferred in order to reduce theamount of time needed for downloading.

The image data stored in the media device will now be described. Asmentioned above the image data is spread among multiple files. The mainimage database file holds image metadata, photo album lists, and“pointers” to the original image as well as all available thumbnails.The images themselves are stored either as individual files (originals)or in image set files, which contain one or more thumbnails of the sametype. This is typically done to save storage space. It should be noted,however, that this is not a limitation and that the images may be storedas an image collection rather than in separate files.

In one embodiment, the photo database file contains a header followed byseveral “sections.” The number of sections can be widely varied althoughit is expected that the photo database will contain three sections:image list section, album list section and the image record ID table.The image list section contains a list of all images stored on the mediadevice. Each image entry contains all of the metadata for an image aswell as a list of locations for all available images associatedtherewith including the original, thumbnails and TV. Each image has aunique persistent record ID which is used in both the album and recordID table sections. The album list section contains a list of the albums,each of which is simply an ordered list of image record IDs. The imagerecord ID table is a table containing record IDs and file offsets forall images, sorted in ascending record ID order. This table allows themedia device to quickly load only those image records for a given album,rather than requiring loading the whole image record list.

The images themselves are stored in image set files. Each image set filecontains a file header, followed by one or more images, each with aheader. This allows scavenging of the data should the need arise. Theimage records in the photo database are by file specification (path) andfile offset, so it is not necessary to parse an image set file to get toa particular image. The number of images per file and/or the maximumimage files size may be widely varied. By way of example, the maximumsize may be 500 Megabytes.

The following is an exemplary layout for the photo database stored onthe media device: File header    Image List Section Header       ImageList header          Image 1 metadata             Image 1 Original ImageLocation             Image 1 Thumbnail 1 Image location            <additional image locations>          Image 2 Metadata            Image 2 Original Image Location             Image 2Thumbnail 1 Image location             <additional image locations>         <additional images>    Album List Section Header       Album 1Metadata          Album 1 Image Record ID 1          Album 1 ImageRecord ID 2          <additional album images>       Album 1 Metadata         Album 1 Image Record ID 1          Album 1 Image Record ID 2         <additional album images>       <additional albums>    RecordID List Section Header       Record ID List Header          Record ID 1Description          Record ID 2 Description          <additional recordIds>

The following is an exemplary layout for an image set file stored on themedia device: File Header    Image 1 Header       Image 1 Data    Image2 Header       Image 2 Data    <additional images>

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a photo database file 350, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The photodatabase 350 includes a file header 352, an image list section header354, an album list section header 356 and a record ID list sectionheader 358. Inside the images list section header 354 are image entries360, and pointers 362, which provide image locations for the variousimages in the image entry including for example the original image O anda plurality of thumbnails T thereof. Inside the album list sectionheader 356 are album entries 364 and record IDs 366 for each of theimages in the album. Inside the record ID list section header 358 areRecord ID list header 368 and record ID descriptions 370.

FIGS. 5A-5E are diagrams of exemplary image set files 372, in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a diagram of anoriginal image set file 372A, FIG. 5B is a diagram of a tiny thumbnailset file 372B, FIG. 5C is a diagram of a small thumbnail set file 372C,FIG. 5D is a diagram of a medium thumbnail set file 372D, FIG. 5E is adiagram of a full screen image set file 372E, and FIG. 5F is a diagramof a TV screen image set file 372F. In each of these figures, the imageset files 372 include a file header 374, image headers 376 and theactual image data 378.

FIG. 6 is media method 400, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. The method may be performed on a media systemincluding a host device such as a personal computer and a media device.The method begins at block 402 where one or more images are uploadedinto a personal computer. The images may be uploaded from a camera,memory device, Internet or the like. After block 402, the methodproceeds to block 404 where the images are stored in the personalcomputer. Blocks 402 and 404 may be accomplished with a media managementprogram. In Block 406, a media player is connected to the personalcomputer. This may be accomplished through a wired or wirelessconnection. The connection may include a handshaking and/or synchingprocedure.

In some cases, the media management program is automatically opened whenthe two devices are connected. The particular media management programopened may depend on the type of media device. If the media device is amusic player, the media management program may be a music program. Ifthe media device is a photo player, the media management program may bean image program. If the media device is a combination music/photoplayer, the media management program may be music program or a photoprogram or a combination of the two. If the different programs areoperated independently, the music program and the photo program may belinked so that information can be shared there between. For example, themusic program may be able to access data from the photo program and viceversa.

In block 408, images and/or image identifiers (e.g., text) are presentedon the personal computer. This too may be accomplished with the mediamanagement program. In fact, the images and image identifiers may beincluded in a photo window associated with a graphical user interface.In block 410, a download command is generated. The download commanddesignates one or more images to be downloaded from the personalcomputer to the portable media device. The download command may begenerated when a user selects one or more images and hits a downloadfeature located in the photo window.

In block 412, the image formats required by the portable media deviceare determined. The determination may be made before the download or itmay be made as part of the downloading process. In some cases, the hostdevice stores a list of required formats for a variety of media devices.In other cases, the portable media device supplies the personal computerwith required formats and image profiles, which describe how to formateach image. In block 414, new versions of the original image arecreated. That is, using the image profiles, the personal computertranscodes the original image into differently formatted images based onthe image profile. By way of example, the transcoding may be performedby a multimedia technology such as QuickTime of Apple Computers Inc. ofCupertino, Calif. QuickTime is a powerful, cross platform, multimediatechnology for manipulating, enhancing, and storing video, sound,animation, graphics, text, music, and the like. In Block 416, the newversions of the original image and in some cases the original image arecopied and stored onto the media device.

In block 418, the media device is disconnected from the personalcomputer thereby allowing the images to be transported via the portablemedia device. In block 420, a display command is generated on the mediadevice during transport. In block 422, one or more images are retrievedbased on the display command. In block 424, at least one of theretrieved images is presented. The retrieved image can be any of thestored images including the original and/or the new images. Theretrieved image can be presented on the portable media device as forexample though an LCD and/or it can be presented on an external displaysuch as a television.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a media management system 500, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The mediamanagement system 500 includes a host computer 502 and a media player504. The host computer 502 is typically a personal computer. The hostcomputer, among other conventional components, includes a managementmodule 506, which is a software module. The management module 506provides for centralized management of media items not only on the hostcomputer 502 but also on the media player 504. More particularly, themanagement module 506 manages those media items stored in a media store508 associated with the host computer 502. The management module 506also interacts with a media database 510 to store media informationassociated with the media items stored in the media store 508.

The media items may correspond to audio, images or video items. Themedia information, on the other hand, pertains to characteristics orattributes of the media items. For example, in the case of audio oraudiovisual media, the media information can include one or more of:title, album, track, artist, composer and genre. These types of mediainformation are specific to particular media items. In addition, themedia information can pertain to quality characteristics of the mediaitems. Examples of quality characteristics of media items can includeone or more of: bit rate, sample rate, equalizer setting, volumeadjustment, start/stop and total time, etc.

Still further, the host computer 502 includes a play module 512. Theplay module 512 is a software module that can be utilized to playcertain media items stored in the media store 508. The play module 412can also utilize media information from the media database 510.Typically, the media information of interest corresponds to the mediaitems to be played by the play module 512.

The host computer 502 also includes a communication module 514 thatcouples to a corresponding communication module 416 within the mediaplayer 504. A connection or link 518 removeably couples thecommunication modules 514 and 416. In one embodiment, the connection orlink 518 is a cable that provides a data bus, such as a FIREWIRE™ bus orUSB bus, which is well known in the art. In another embodiment, theconnection or link 518 is a wireless channel or connection through awireless network. Hence, depending on implementation, the communicationmodules 514 and 516 may communicate in a wired or wireless manner.

The media player 504 also includes a media store 520 that stores mediaitems within the media player 504. The media items being stored to themedia store 520 are typically received over the connection or link 518from the host computer 502. More particularly, the management module 506sends all or certain of those media items residing on the media store508 over the connection or link 518 to the media store 520 within themedia player 504. Additionally, the corresponding media information forthe media items that is also delivered to the media player 504 from thehost computer 502 can be stored in a media database 522. In this regard,certain media information from the media database 510 within the hostcomputer 502 can be sent to the media database 522 within the mediaplayer 504 over the connection or link 518. Still further, listsidentifying certain of the media items can also be sent by themanagement module 506 over the connection or link 518 to the media store520 or the media database 522 within the media player 504.

Furthermore, the media player 504 includes a play module 524 thatcouples to the media store 520 and the media database 522. The playmodule 524 is a software module that can be utilized to play certainmedia items stored in the media store 520. The play module 524 can alsoutilize media information from the media database 422. Typically, themedia information of interest corresponds to the media items to beplayed by the play module 524.

Hence, in one embodiment, the media player 504 has limited or nocapability to manage media items on the media player 504. However, themanagement module 506 within the host computer 502 can indirectly managethe media items residing on the media player 504. For example, to “add”a media item to the media player 504, the management module 506 servesto identify the media item to be added to the media player 504 from themedia store 508 and then causes the identified media item to bedelivered to the media player 504. As another example, to “delete” amedia item from the media player 504, the management module 506 servesto identify the media item to be deleted from the media store 508 andthen causes the identified media item to be deleted from the mediaplayer 504. As still another example, if changes (i.e., alterations) tocharacteristics of a media item were made at the host computer 502 usingthe management module 506, then such characteristics can also be carriedover to the corresponding media item on the media player 504. In oneimplementation, the additions, deletions and/or changes occur in abatch-like process during synchronization of the media items on themedia player 504 with the media items on the host computer 502.

In another embodiment, the media player 504 has limited or no capabilityto manage playlists on the media player 504. However, the managementmodule 506 within the host computer 502 through management of theplaylists residing on the host computer can indirectly manage theplaylists residing on the media player 504. In this regard, additions,deletions or changes to playlists can be performed on the host computer502 and then by carried over to the media player 404 when deliveredthereto.

As previously noted, synchronization is a form of media management. Theability to automatically initiate synchronization was also previouslydiscussed. Still further, however, the synchronization between devicescan be restricted so as to prevent automatic synchronization when thehost computer and media player do not recognize one another.

According to one embodiment, when a media player is first connected to ahost computer (or even more generally when matching identifiers are notpresent), the user of the media player is queried as to whether the userdesires to affiliate, assign or lock the media player to the hostcomputer. When the user of the media player elects to affiliate, assignor lock the media player with the host computer, then a pseudo-randomidentifier is obtained and stored in either the media database or a filewithin both the host computer and the media player. In oneimplementation, the identifier is an identifier associated with (e.g.,known or generated by) the host computer or its management module andsuch identifier is sent to and stored in the media player. In anotherimplementation, the identifier is associated with (e.g., known orgenerated by) the media player and is sent to and stored in a file ormedia database of the host computer.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a media player 600, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. The media player 600 includes aprocessor 602 that pertains to a microprocessor or controller forcontrolling the overall operation of the media player 600. The mediaplayer 600 stores media data pertaining to media items in a file system604 and a cache 606. The file system 604 is, typically, a storage diskor a plurality of disks. The file system 604 typically provides highcapacity storage capability for the media player 600. However, since theaccess time to the file system 604 is relatively slow, the media player600 can also include a cache 606. The cache 606 is, for example,Random-Access Memory (RAM) provided by semiconductor memory. Therelative access time to the cache 606 is substantially shorter than forthe file system 604. However, the cache 506 does not have the largestorage capacity of the file system 604. Further, the file system 504,when active, consumes more power than does the cache 606. The powerconsumption is often a concern when the media player 600 is a portablemedia player that is powered by a battery (not shown). The media player600 also includes a RAM 620 and a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 622. The ROM622 can store programs, utilities or processes to be executed in anon-volatile manner. The RAM 620 provides volatile data storage, such asfor the cache 606.

The media player 600 also includes a user input device 608 that allows auser of the media player 600 to interact with the media player 600. Forexample, the user input device 608 can take a variety of forms, such asa button, keypad, dial, etc. Still further, the media player 600includes a display 610 (screen display) that can be controlled by theprocessor 602 to display information to the user. A data bus 611 canfacilitate data transfer between at least the file system 604, the cache606, the processor 602, and the CODECs 612.

In one embodiment, the media player 600 serves to store a plurality ofmedia items in the file system 604. The media items may for examplecorrespond to audio (e.g., songs, books), images (e.g., photos) orvideos (e.g., movies). When a user desires to have the media player playa particular media item, a list of available media items is typicallydisplayed on the display 610. Then, using the user input device 608, auser can select one of the available media items. The processor 602,upon receiving a selection of a particular media item, supplies themedia data (e.g., audio file, image file or video file) for theparticular media item to the appropriate device. For audio items, theprocessor supplies the media item to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 612. TheCODEC 612 then produces analog output signals for a speaker 614. Thespeaker 614 can be a speaker internal to the media player 600 orexternal to the media player 600. For example, headphones or earphonesthat connect to the media player 600 would be considered an externalspeaker.

For visual items, the processor supplies the media item to the display610. The display may for example be a liquid crystal display (LCD) thatis integral with the media player. Alternatively, the display may be anexternal display such as a CRT or LCD, or a television of any particulartype. In some cases, the processor is configured to supply media data toboth an integrated display and an external display. In cases such asthis, the media data displayed on both displays may be the same of itmay be different. In the later case, for example, the internal displaymay include a slide show interface showing the previous image, the nextimage and the image currently being displayed on the external display.

The media player 600 also includes a network/bus interface 616 thatcouples to a data link 618. The data link 618 allows the media player600 to couple to a host computer. The data link 618 can be provided overa wired connection or a wireless connection. In the case of a wirelessconnection, the network/bus interface 616 can include a wirelesstransceiver.

In another embodiment, a media player can be used with a dockingstation. The docking station can provide wireless communicationcapability (e.g., wireless transceiver) for the media player, such thatthe media player can communicate with a host device using the wirelesscommunication capability when docked at the docking station. The dockingstation may or may not be itself portable.

The wireless network, connection or channel can be radio-frequencybased, so as to not require line-of-sight arrangement between sendingand receiving devices. Hence, synchronization can be achieved while amedia player remains in a bag, vehicle or other container.

The host device can also be a media player. In such case, thesynchronization of media items can between two media players.

The various aspects, embodiments, implementations or features of theinvention can be used separately or in any combination.

The invention is preferably implemented by software, but can also beimplemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software. Theinvention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computerreadable medium. The computer readable medium is any data storage devicethat can store data which can thereafter be read by a computer system.Examples of the computer readable medium include read-only memory,random-access memory, CD-ROMs, DVDs, magnetic tape, optical data storagedevices, and carrier waves. The computer readable medium can also bedistributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computerreadable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

FIG. 9 is perspective view of a handheld computing device 700, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The computingdevice 700 is capable of processing data and more particularly mediasuch as audio, video, images, etc. By way of example, the computingdevice 700 may generally correspond to a music player, game player,video player, camera, cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA),and/or the like. With regards to being handheld, the computing device700 can be operated solely by the user's hand(s), i.e., no referencesurface such as a desktop is needed. In some cases, the handheld deviceis sized for placement into a pocket of the user. By being pocket sized,the user does not have to directly carry the device and therefore thedevice can be taken almost anywhere the user travels (e.g., the user isnot limited by carrying a large, bulky and heavy device).

As shown, the computing device 700 includes a housing 712 that enclosesand supports internally various electrical components (includingintegrated circuit chips and other circuitry) to provide computingoperations for the device. The integrated circuit chips and othercircuitry may include a microprocessor, memory, a battery, and variousinput/output (I/O) support circuitry. In most cases, the microprocessorexecutes instructions and carries out operations associated with thecomputing device. For example, using instructions retrieved for examplefrom memory, the microprocessor may control the reception andmanipulation of input and output data between components of thecomputing device 700. In fact, the microprocessor may work with anoperating system to execute computer code and produce and use datastored in memory. By way of example, the memory may include a harddrive, flash memory, Read-Only Memory (ROM), Random-Access Memory (RAM)and/or the like.

The computing device 700 also includes a display 714. The display 714,which is assembled within the housing 712 and which is visible throughan opening in the housing 712, is used to display a graphical userinterface (GUI) as well as other information to the user (e.g., text,objects, graphics). The display 714 generally takes the form of a flatpanel display such as a liquid crystal display (LCD).

The computing device 700 also includes one or more input devices 718configured to transfer data from the outside world into the computingdevice 700. The input devices 718 may for example be used to performtracking/scrolling, to make selections or to issue commands in thecomputing device 700. By way of example, the input devices 718 maycorrespond to keypads, joysticks, touch screens, touch pads, trackballs, wheels, buttons, switches, and/or the like. In the illustratedembodiment, the computing device 700 includes a touch pad 718A and aplurality of buttons 718B, which are assembled within the housing 712and which are accessible through openings in the housing 712.

The computing device 700 may include one or more switches 720 includingpower switches, hold switches, and the like. Furthermore, the device 700may include one or more connectors 722 including data ports and powerterminals 722A and B, as well as audio and/or video jacks 722C.

In the illustrated embodiment, the computing device 700 is a pocketsized hand held music/photo player that allows a user to store a largecollection of music and photos,, and to listen to this music and viewthe photos on the go (e.g., while working, traveling, exercising, etc.).In such a case, the memory may contain media management software havingboth music playing and photo displaying capabilities. Furthermore, theGUI may visually provide music and photo menus, as well as music andphoto controls to the user. Moreover, the touch pad may providescrolling functions, which allow a user to traverse through menus orcontrols on the GUI as well as to browse through a list of songs orphotos, and the buttons may provide button functions that open a menu,play a song, display a photo, fast forward through a song, seek througha playlist or album and/or the like. In addition, the music/photo playertypically includes an audio jack for outputting audio, a video jack foroutputting photos and videos and a data port for transmitting andreceiving media data (and other data.) to and from a host device. Insome cases, the audio and video jack are combined into a single jack. Byway of example, the music photo player may correspond to the iPod®series music players manufactured by Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif.

FIG. 10 is a media device operational method 800, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. The operational method 800 may forexample be performed on a portable media device, and more particularly aportable music/photo player. The method 800 generally begins at block802 where a main menu is presented to a user on a display. See forexample FIG. 11A, which shows the main menu 850 presented on thedisplay. The main menu 850 generally includes several options 852associated with operating the media device. By way of example, the mainmenu 850 may include options 852 such as music, photos, extras,settings, shuffle songs and backlight. In most cases, each of theoptions 852 includes its own sub menu of sub options, which areassociated with the main option. Each of these sub options may openanother sub menu of sub options or they may initiate an action. By wayof example, the music submenu may include music library, playlist, andbrowse options and the photo sub menu may include photo library, albumand slide show setting options

Following block 802, the method proceeds to block 804 where adetermination is made as to whether the photo option was selected. Ifnot, the method waits or proceeds back to block 802. If so (as shown bythe slider bar in FIG. 11A), the method proceeds to block 806 where thephoto sub menu is presented to the user on the display. By way ofexample, see FIG. 11B which shows the photo sub menu 854 presented onthe display. The photo sub menu 854 may include one or more photooptions 856, which may represent different modes of photo viewing, andwhich may give the user the ability to change settings associated withphoto viewing. In the illustrated embodiment, the sub menu 854 includesa photo library option, one or more album options and a photo settingsoptions.

Following block 806, the method proceeds to block 808 where adetermination is made as to whether or not the library option isselected. If the library option is selected, the method proceeds toblock 810 where all the stored images are retrieved. Thereafter, inblock 812, the images are displayed based on predetermined settings. Ifthe library is not selected, the method proceeds to block 814 where adetermination is made as to whether or not the album option is selected.If the album option is selected, the method proceeds to block 816 whereonly the album images are retrieved. Thereafter, in block 818, theimages are displayed based on predetermined settings.

In either of blocks 812 and 818, the entire group or some portion of theretrieved group can be displayed. The amount displayed generally dependson the number of images inside the library or album. If it is large, thescreen may not be capable of displaying all of the images at once. Incases such as these, some of the images are kept out of the viewing areauntil the user decides to pull them up. The manner in which they aredisplayed generally depends on the desired display configurationestablished in the settings menu.

In browse mode, a large group of tiny thumbnails 858 are displayed incolumns and rows as shown in FIG. 11C. The user can browse through thetiny thumbnails 858 via a scrolling action either image by image or rowby row or column by column, etc. As the user scrolls through the imagesa new set of data (e.g., images or line of images) is brought into viewin the viewing area. In most cases, once the viewing area is full, eachnew set of data appears at the edge of the viewing area and all othersets of data move over one position. That is, the new set of dataappears for each set of data that moves out of the viewing area. In somecases, when a particular image is selected while browsing, the fullscreen version of that image is displayed as shown in FIG. 11E.Alternatively, the configuration shown in FIG. 11D may be displayed withthe current image being the medium thumbnail of the image selected, andthe previous and next images being the small thumbnails of the imageslocated next to the image selected.

In slide show mode, only the previous, current, and next images aredisplayed. The previous and next images may be small thumbnails 860while the current image may be a medium thumbnail 862 as shown in FIG.11D. The user may traverse through the retrieved images by clicking aforward or back button, i.e., the forward button causes the currentimage to move to the previous image, the next image to move to thecurrent image, and a new image to move into the next image. In somecases, when a the current image is selected while traversing through theslide show, the full screen version 864 of that image is displayed asshown in FIG. 11E.

In TV mode, the TV thumbnail(s) 866 is outputted to a TV for display asshown in FIG. 11F. The TV display may mimic what is being shown on themedia player. For example, the TV display may display any of theprevious screen shots (FIGS. 11C, 11D, 11E) or variations thereof.During a slide show, for example, the TV screen image may be based onthe same original image as the current image in the slide show window.

If the album option is not selected, the method proceeds to block 820where a determination is made as to whether or not the setting option isselected. If the setting option is selected, the method proceeds toblock 822 where a setting menu is presented to the user on the display.The setting menu may include control settings pertaining to one or moredisplay events. In fact, the setting menu may serve as a control panelfor reviewing and/or customizing the control settings, i.e., the usermay quickly and conveniently review the control settings and makechanges thereto. Once the user saves the changes, the modified controlsettings will be employed to handle future display events. By way ofexample, the settings may include features that allow a user to assignmusic tracks to albums, to turn the assigned music on/off, to turn TVout on/off, to choose between modes, etc. The settings may also allow auser to select slide shows and whether to display the images in fullscreen or slide show mode and whether to show the images in random orsequenced order as well as to end or repeat when finished.

While this invention has been described in terms of several preferredembodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents, whichfall within the scope of this invention. It should also be noted thatthere are many alternative ways of implementing the methods andapparatuses of the present invention. For example, although theinvention is primarily directed at images, it should be noted that itmay also be applied to music. In the case of music, different versionsof the same song may be created, downloaded and stored. The differentversions can be based on a variety of things including for exampleadjustments made to characteristics of the song (e.g., tempo, pitch),adding or removing elements of the song (e.g., voice or instrument),and/or the like. It is therefore intended that the following appendedclaims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutations,and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

1. A method of transferring image data between a host device and aportable media device, the portable media device being capable ofstoring and playing media items, the method comprising: at the hostdevice, designating at least one image for downloading to the portablemedia device; at the host device, producing an image collection for eachrequested image, each image collection containing new versions of therequested image, each new version having a different image profile basedon the capabilities of the portable media device; and at the hostdevice, sending the image collection including each version of therequested image to the portable media device.
 2. The method as recitedin claim 1 further comprising: at the portable media device, receivingthe image collection from the host device; at the portable media device,storing the image collection for future use.
 3. The method as recited inclaim 1 wherein the portable media device delivers the image profiles tothe host device, and wherein the image collection is produced based onthese image profiles.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein theimage profiles are determined based on the type of portable mediadevice.
 5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the portable mediadevice is a handheld media player having data storage device that storesmedia items.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the handheldmedia player is a combination music/photo player having data storagedevice that stores both audio and image data.
 7. The method as recitedin claim 1 wherein the images are photo files that can be played on themedia device.
 8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the imageprofiles include a list of keys that define the characteristics of theimage, the keys including FormatID, RenderWidth, RenderHeight,DisplayWidth, DisplayHeight, PixelFormat, Sizing, BackColor, Rotation,ScanFormat, ColorAdjustment and GammaAdjustment.
 9. The method asrecited in claim 1 wherein the image profiles are supplied to hostdevice via the portable media device.
 10. The method as recited in claim1 wherein the requested image is sent along with each version of therequested image to the portable media device.
 11. The method as recitedin claim 10 wherein the image collection includes at least the originalimage, a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images of varioussizes, and a TV image.
 12. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein theimage collection includes at least the original image and a full screenimage.
 13. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the imagecollection includes at least the original image and a plurality ofthumbnail images of various sizes.
 14. The method as recited in claim 10wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and aTV image.
 15. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the imagecollection does not include the original requested image.
 16. The methodas recited in claim 1 wherein the image collection only includes atleast one of a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images ofvarious sizes, and a TV image.
 17. An operational method for a portablemedia device, comprising: storing image data, the image data including aplurality of image collections, each image collection containing aplurality of differently formatted images based on an original image,the image collections being separately generated on a device other thanthe portable media device; receiving a display command, the displaycommand designating one or more images of the image data to bedisplayed; retrieving at least the designated images; and outputting oneor more of the retrieved images.
 18. The method as recited in claim 17further including displaying one or more of the retrieved images on theportable media device.
 19. The method as recited in claim 17 furtherincluding displaying one or more of the retrieved images on a deviceoperatively coupled to the media device.
 20. The method as recited inclaim 17 wherein each image type is stored in their own individual file.21. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein the image collectionincludes at least a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail imagesof various sizes, and a TV image.
 22. The method as recited in claim 17wherein the image collection contains the original image along with thedifferently formatted images.
 23. The method as recited in claim 22wherein each image type is stored in their own individual file.
 24. Themethod as recited in claim 22 wherein the image collection includes atleast the original image, a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnailimages of various sizes, and a TV image.
 25. The method as recited inclaim 17 wherein the image collection does not includes the originalimage.
 26. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein the imagecollection includes a full screen image.
 27. The method as recited inclaim 17 wherein the image collection includes a plurality of thumbnailimages of various sizes.
 28. The method as recited in claim 17 whereinthe image collection includes a TV image.
 29. The method as recited inclaim 28 wherein the format of the TV image is selected from NTSC, PALor HDTV.
 30. A method of transferring image data between a host deviceand a portable media device, the portable media device being capable ofstoring and playing media items, the method comprising: receivingdesignating one or more images for downloading from the host device tothe portable media device; creating a database entry for each of theimages to be downloaded; copying the database entry on at least theportable media device; at the host, creating an image collection foreach requested image, the image collection including the original imageand differently formatted images based on the original image; copyingthe image collection to the portable media player; and updating thedatabase entry with information about each of the images in the imagecollection.
 31. The method as recited in claim 30 wherein the databaseentry is copied into a photo database and wherein the images are copiedinto files associated with each type of image.
 32. The method as recitedin claim 30 wherein the photo database includes a file header, an imagelist section, an album list section and a record ID list section, theimage list section including image entries corresponding to eachdownloaded image and pointers that provide directions to the locationsof each image in the image collection, the album list section includingalbum entries and record IDs for each image in the album, the record IDlist section including record IDs and descriptions thereof.
 33. Aportable media device capable of viewing images, the device comprising:a storage device containing downloaded image data, the downloaded imagedata including a plurality of image collections, each image collectionincluding a plurality of different versions of an original image; and aprocessor configured to supply at least a portion of the image data to adisplay.
 34. The portable media device as recited in claim 33 whereinthe display is integral with the portable media device.
 35. The portablemedia device as recited in claim 33 wherein the display is external ofthe portable media device, the image data being supplied to the displaybeing formatted for viewing on the display.
 36. The portable mediadevice as recited in claim 33 wherein the downloaded image data alsoincludes the original image.
 37. The portable media device as recited inclaim 33 wherein the downloaded image data does not include the originalimage.
 38. A computer readable medium including at least computerprogram code for managing images, comprising: storing a plurality ofimage collections, each image collection including a plurality ofdifferent versions of an original image; retrieving one or images fromstorage when a display command is generated; and presenting one or moreof the retrieved images.
 39. The computer readable medium as recited inclaim 38 wherein the image collections further include the originalimage.
 40. In a media communication system that facilitatescommunications between a host device and a portable media device, adownload embodied as a carrier wave, comprising: image data including aplurality of image collections, each image collection including aplurality of different versions of an original image.
 41. The computerreadable medium as recited in claim 40 wherein the image collectionsfurther include the original image.
 42. A media management method,comprising: loading one or more images to a personal computer; storingthe one or more images on the personal computer; connecting a hand heldmedia device to the personal computer; presenting images or imageidentifiers on personal computer; generating a download command, thedownload command designating one or more images to be downloaded fromthe personal computer to the hand held media device; determining theimage formats required by the hand held media device; creating newversions of the designated images; copying and storing at least the newversions of the designated images on the hand held media device;disconnecting the hand held media device from the personal computer;generating a display command on the hand held media device; retrievingone or more images from storage based on the display command; andpresenting one or more of the retrieved images.